David Sims — Direct/Cross
67 linesJUDGE EVERETT: Please call your next witness.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: State calls Sergeant Sims.
JUDGE EVERETT: Do you swear or affirm the testimony you're about to give will be the truth?
DAVID SIMS: I do.
JUDGE EVERETT: You may take your seat.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Please introduce yourself and spell your name.
DAVID SIMS: David Sims. D-A-V-I-D, S-I-M-S.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: How are you employed, sir?
DAVID SIMS: I'm a retired sergeant for the Tallahassee Police Department.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: How long were you with TPD?
DAVID SIMS: 28 years.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: And were you working there back in 2018?
DAVID SIMS: Yes, I was.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Did you respond —
DAVID SIMS: You said 2018?
MS. CAPPLEMAN: I'm sorry — sorry, 2014.
DAVID SIMS: 2014, yes.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: I'm sorry. Did you respond to 2116 Trescott Drive back in — on July 18th of 2014?
DAVID SIMS: I did.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: All right. And what were you responding in reference to?
DAVID SIMS: A call of possible shots fired.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Okay. What did you observe when you arrived there?
DAVID SIMS: When I arrived, I parked on the street, and the neighbor, Mr. Geiger, pointed out the house. I walked up the driveway. The garage door was up. There was a vehicle parked in the driveway running.
DAVID SIMS: As I approached the vehicle, I noticed glass on the ground outside the driver's side, and I checked the door locks, and the car was locked, but it was running.
DAVID SIMS: There was a person inside the car, kind of slumped over, maybe a little to the right.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: The glass for the driver's window. All right.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: So proceed with your answer. So you arrive — is this what you see?
DAVID SIMS: Yes.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Were the doors shut?
DAVID SIMS: Correct.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Okay, go ahead.
DAVID SIMS: Um, as I approached — in the picture there, the vehicle doors are open, but it was closed and locked when I arrived. The glass in the driver's door was partially broken out, and there appeared to be a small half circle in that glass as if a projectile had entered or exited through that window.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Does this photograph show the little shattered glass with the half circle?
MS. CAPPLEMAN: You're seeing it right up there in the corner.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Okay. What else did you observe there?
DAVID SIMS: Um, inside the vehicle, I called the victim's possible name. I was given a name of Daniel. I called Daniel — there was no response. He was breathing, but in a gasping manner; it was just kind of a repetitive gasp. No movement, no response to me. I went around to the other side of the vehicle after I had unlocked and reached in the window, unlocked the door, went around to the other side, opened that door, turned the car off so the car wouldn't possibly be put into gear when EMS got there — plus the fumes. So I dropped the keys on the floor in the garage, and I tried to call his name again — no response. By that time, I heard EMS — their sirens right down the street, so they were almost there.
DAVID SIMS: I did notice that in his left hand he had a cell phone, and in his right hand he had like a business card. And he also — the glass — there was eyeglasses; half was laying in his lap and the other half was laying on the floor of the car like they had just been broken right across the bridge.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: All right. So what is this that we're seeing on the ground here?
DAVID SIMS: That looks like possibly the cell phone, and I don't know if that's the glasses or not, because this picture would be after EMS arrived and they took him out of the vehicle. And I'm not sure what — on that side — what was moved and everything that was done when EMS was trying to extricate him from the car.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Okay. Before the doors were open and EMS extricated the victim, were you able to observe some shattered glass?
DAVID SIMS: Oh, there was definitely glass — definitely glass on the outside, yes.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Okay. It's — just another shot of that shattered glass there. And can you tell whether those are the glasses that you observed?
DAVID SIMS: Yes.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Okay. And the cell phone there on the ground?
DAVID SIMS: Correct.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Okay. Where was that cell phone when you initially observed it?
DAVID SIMS: It was in his left hand.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: So it was moved whenever they removed the victim?
DAVID SIMS: Correct.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: To try to render aid?
DAVID SIMS: Correct.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: And was he taken to the hospital?
DAVID SIMS: Yes.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: When you say that you opened the car doors, did you have to touch both door handles to do that?
DAVID SIMS: Usually, when I have a car that's something like this — a stolen car or anything — I want to get prints out, and my uniform always has a pen, like just a big pen with the top that comes off, and I use that to pull on the door handles and I use that to reach in and unlock the vehicle so I don't touch anything.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Did you observe any signs there at the scene that there had been forced entry of the residence or anything disturbed or taken?
DAVID SIMS: No. After the victim was removed from the car, then myself and another officer — we took the keys that I had taken out, we had to unlock the door to get into the house from the garage, and we checked the house. The other doors were locked, and there was no signs of anything in the house — no other persons, and no struggle or anything inside the house. Children were not present.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Did — you move the car at all?
DAVID SIMS: No.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: All right. So the way it's photographed here is the position it was in when you found it?
DAVID SIMS: Right. After we were done checking the house, and the scene was turned over to our investigators and to forensics.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Okay. No further questions.
JUDGE EVERETT: Cross-examination.
MR. RASHBAUM: No questions, Your Honor.
JUDGE EVERETT: Is the sergeant released?
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Yes, sir.
JUDGE EVERETT: You may step down. Have a good day, sir.